2 Corinthians 8:24

2 Corinthians 8:24 evndeiknu,menoi

Since it is now generally recognized by New Testament grammarians that, in accordance with Semitic idiom, occasionally the Greek participle functions as the imperative mood, ¹ the Committee preferred evndeiknu,menoi, supported, as it is, by representatives of the Alexandrian and the Western texts (B D* E F G 33 181 1898). If the original reading had been evndei,xasqe (a C D^{b, c} K L P almost all minuscules and many versions — although in such a case the evidence of the versions counts for very little), there is no reason why it should have been altered to the participial construction; on the other hand, however, it is easy to understand that copyists, unacquainted with the Semitic idiom, would change the participle to the finite verb.

¹ Cf. Blass-Debrunner-Funk, § 468, 2; C. F. D. Moule, An Idiom-Book of New Testament Greek, pp. 179 f.; Moulton-Turner, p. 343 (with bibliography).